New OpenOffice.org is fully Aqua

Magnus · 22nd March 2008, 08:04

There is a new OpenOffice.org being developed, version 3 I believe, and it's going to be be fully a true Mac application. Previous versions you had to run in X Windows so it didn't look and work like Mac applications should which made it a bit less user friendly than it should be for most users to really like it. Now that's changing, which is great news. It's good to have options and with the new version OpenOffice.org becomes a real contender in the market for office suites on Mac, just as it has been on Windows for man years.

NeoOffice is still around but once this OpenOffice.org version is out it's hard to see what NeoOffice has to offer anymore that's better. I've used NeoOffice from time to time and it's not bad, but I've always found it kind of sluggish. If I understand it right it uses Java to run the Mac OS X interface as a frontend to the OpenOffice.org application, so it's not really native Mac OS X, which the new OpenOffice.org is. But perhaps the NeoOffice guys have something up their sleeve.

You can download and try new OpenOffice.org (about 160Mb file). Go here, click on the mirror of your choice, then the Developer folder, then the Dev_300 folder, and click on the Mac version.

This version is a "development snapshot", which is something that comes before beta. So don't expect that you can use this for everyday work, expect bugs and problems. The final version is expected later this year.

ultrablue662 · 22nd March 2008, 10:48

Nice. but tell me Magnus, what does it offer in options and usability that iWorks doesnt, you'll remember I was very against ever switching from MS Office and now I dont think I'd ever switch from iWorks.

Magnus · 22nd March 2008, 13:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultrablue662

Nice. but tell me Magnus, what does it offer in options and usability that iWorks doesnt, you'll remember I was very against ever switching from MS Office and now I dont think I'd ever switch from iWorks.

You can find some clues here. Actually I'm not the person to really answer your question. I've only used OpenOffice.org and NeoOffice a few times, I've remained with Office mainly because of work, and with the 2008 version that's probably going to continue it seems. And I've used 2008 a little bit and I've been pretty impressed.

fangpyre · 22nd March 2008, 13:41

I tried OpenOffice a while back, and not extensively.
I have worked on NeoOffice.

If you are ok with what iWork has to offer, than stick with it.
You can say NeoOffice (and I assume OpenOffice) is a mid-way between iWorks and MS Office.

Pages is somewhat closer to a desktop publishing solution than a word processor.
MS Word is a better word processor, I think the best.
But it doesn't support Arabic, something NeoOffice does.

For me, thats all I use NeoOffice for.
To check Arabic documents.

dandantheitman · 24th March 2008, 04:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultrablue662

Nice. but tell me Magnus, what does it offer in options and usability that iWorks doesnt, you'll remember I was very against ever switching from MS Office and now I dont think I'd ever switch from iWorks.

Hey Ultra,
I have been using open office since Sun open sourced it - as it rocks! and as my primary platform is Linux it is pretty much the only option for spreadsheets, presentations, and word processing except for vi

* What it offers is support for the opendocument format.
* Full Arabic Language Support

More openoffice 3 screen shots are available at the oooninja.com

Dan

22nd March 2008, 08:04	#1 (permalink)
Magnus Administrator Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Dubai Posts: 8,397	New OpenOffice.org is fully Aqua There is a new OpenOffice.org being developed, version 3 I believe, and it's going to be be fully a true Mac application. Previous versions you had to run in X Windows so it didn't look and work like Mac applications should which made it a bit less user friendly than it should be for most users to really like it. Now that's changing, which is great news. It's good to have options and with the new version OpenOffice.org becomes a real contender in the market for office suites on Mac, just as it has been on Windows for man years. NeoOffice is still around but once this OpenOffice.org version is out it's hard to see what NeoOffice has to offer anymore that's better. I've used NeoOffice from time to time and it's not bad, but I've always found it kind of sluggish. If I understand it right it uses Java to run the Mac OS X interface as a frontend to the OpenOffice.org application, so it's not really native Mac OS X, which the new OpenOffice.org is. But perhaps the NeoOffice guys have something up their sleeve. You can download and try new OpenOffice.org (about 160Mb file). Go here, click on the mirror of your choice, then the Developer folder, then the Dev_300 folder, and click on the Mac version. This version is a "development snapshot", which is something that comes before beta. So don't expect that you can use this for everyday work, expect bugs and problems. The final version is expected later this year.

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22nd March 2008, 10:48	#2 (permalink)
ultrablue662 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Abu-Dhabi Posts: 741	Nice. but tell me Magnus, what does it offer in options and usability that iWorks doesnt, you'll remember I was very against ever switching from MS Office and now I dont think I'd ever switch from iWorks.

22nd March 2008, 13:41	#4 (permalink)
fangpyre Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Dubai Posts: 1,416	I tried OpenOffice a while back, and not extensively. I have worked on NeoOffice. If you are ok with what iWork has to offer, than stick with it. You can say NeoOffice (and I assume OpenOffice) is a mid-way between iWorks and MS Office. Pages is somewhat closer to a desktop publishing solution than a word processor. MS Word is a better word processor, I think the best. But it doesn't support Arabic, something NeoOffice does. For me, thats all I use NeoOffice for. To check Arabic documents.